Writer/director Paul Feig, the man behind beloved comedies like Bridesmaids and Spy, continues to expand his genre portfolio with an adaptation of Soman Chainani’s 2013 novel The School for Good and Evil. The film, currently streaming on Netflix, boasts a visually intriguing fantasy world, but not much else.
The School for Good and Evil follows friends Agatha (Sophia Wylie) and Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso), who have been labeled as witches and freaks in their home village of Gavaldon, finding new purpose at The School of Good and Evil — where heroes and villains from the most prolific fantasy tales are trained for their destiny. There’s only one problem, they get dropped off at the wrong schools. The whimsical and more elegant Sophie gets dropped at the School for Evil while the more rough and tough Agatha gets dropped into the School for Good. However, their destinations might not be a mistake as they begin to see new sides of each other that test their friendship and play an unknowing part of an ancient good vs. evil plot that’s resurfacing.
With Netflix needing its own big fantasy property or at least some kind of Harry Potter equivalent in its library, The School for Good and Evil looked to be a strong candidate at face value and finds some good ways to boast an interesting fantasy world. The overall concept of these feuding sides in the same school leads to some intriguing dynamics for the students as well as the teachers. Like Harry Potter, it’s fun to see these classes touch on and express the key elements to being a great fantasy hero or villain. There are some interesting terms and ideologies surrounding fate as well as the true definitions of being good or evil that create an interesting culture. Even the idea of a magical quill (voiced by Cate Blanchett) currently writing their fates is deeply intriguing and plays an interesting role in Agatha and Sophie’s arcs.
Plus, the visuals of The School for Good and Evil are stunning with some cool creature designs and a strong contrasting color palette that’s very pleasing to the eye. However, the film struggles to fully envelop viewers into this fantasy world because of its overt familiarity, unnecessary modern tone, and lack of creativity with its characters and story. Although it likely stems from the book, the constant mentions of classic fantasy tales like King Arthur and Cinderella become obnoxious quick and the characters tied to the lineage of classic fantasy characters really struggle to make their own impression. Perhaps, that familial tie is kind of the point with the film’s main message generally surrounding being able to decide your own fate, but it makes it hit too close to home with another modern fantasy film, The Descendants.
Disney pretty much did a lot of what The School for Good and Evil is doing with its themes, character connections, and ideas with The Descendants, and did it better. The ties to popular villains and heroes at least felt a little more nostalgic and genuine because Disney already had a strong history with these characters. Here though, it’s like the film is trying to create a pre-established history making it not as compelling or fresh and basically give nothing to look much deeper into. Some original characters also struggle to stay memorable because of the over-reliance on star power to get by rather than memorable personalities or strong story arcs. Often, you’re just feeling like you remember the person playing the character and their basic role rather than anything unique with the characters. The performances generally hit basic good or evil marks and rarely offer anything more to make the characters intriguing on their own.
Also, it doesn’t help that Feig’s direction feels unclear and the injection of modern tones and music make The School for Good and Evil overtly generic. The idea of a traditional fantasy world being invaded by modern dialogue, tones, and music is really becoming overplayed and feels obnoxious in something like The School for Good and Evil. Wylie and Caruso not speaking with fantasy-based accents like most of the other characters makes them stick out badly and the constant use of modern music throughout doesn’t add much to the moments and makes this film super generic. Frankly, Feig’s comedy also tends to fall flat here, and the storytelling and themes are very obvious, typical, and repetitive.
The idea of the film challenging the definitions of good and evil feels apparent from the start and the direction that things go doesn’t stray too far from the norm. The film constantly beats in this idea of changing fate and challenging the norm, but never goes beyond the usual idea of Agatha and Sophie going through their own personal arcs, eventually colliding, and then coming back together again with a new perspective. Also, this lack of variety with its story, themes, and especially its character interactions make the tortuous runtime an absolute chore. The film would’ve honestly served better as a tv series simply so it could go a little deeper into its world and story more than it does here and you’ll easily find yourself struggling not to tap out because of how lengthy it is.
The School for Good and Evil shows potential to be something special for Netflix but never leaves a greater impression and instead comes off as a bland fantasy knock-off of bigger and better franchises with how much its characters, story, and direction lack creativity.
